One last example, from St. Louis, Missouri. The census taker listed a son
with the name "Iman". Further research determined that the name was
actually "Hyman".

The census taker wrote what he heard. For documents, such as the U.S. census,
where information was given orally, we must interpret what we see, trying to put
ourselves into the mind of the individual who wrote it down — not the mind of the
informant. You need to see these types of documents through the ears of the
person who wrote it.